Daily Image
21-02-2018
ASTRON NCLE Analogue Flight Hardware Delivered
| Submitter: | Albert-Jan Boonstra |
| Description: | The Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer - NCLE, is a low-frequency radio experiment for the Chinese Chang'e 4 mission that will go in orbit around the Earth-Moon L2 point later this year. NCLE is aimed at observing the low-frequency radio sky, and is considered a pathfinder mission for a future low-frequency space-based or moon-based radio interferometer. This scaled-up version will have the detection and mapping of the 21-cm Hydrogen line emission from the Dark Ages period as the principle science objective. Low-frequency radio astronomy, i.e. below ~30 MHz, can only be done well from space due to man-made radio interference and due to disturbing influences of the Earth's ionosphere. After a very intense period of hard work the NCLE team at ASTRON delivered the flight hardware for the analogue amplifiers and calibration unit to ISIS in Delft for integration in the NCLE receiver. The ASTRON systems ensure proper signal reception, spectral filtering and amplification, and provides calibration signals. The left picture shows a computer drawing of the spacecraft with the three NCLE scientific monopole antennas pointing downwards, the solar panels, and the Chang'e 4 communication paraboloid pointing to the Moon and Earth. The right picture gives a zoomed-in view of one of the ASTRON electronic boards, the amplifier (LNA). It is somewhat more complex than initially anticipated, as it is designed to preserve linearity for the very wide observational bands in a harsh electromagnetic (EMC) environment. The middle picture shows Mark and David performing the last tests before hand-over tot ISIS. The NCLE receiver project is a collaboration between ASTRON, Radboud University (PI), Innovative Solutions In Space (ISIS), the Chinese NAOC-CAS, and is supported by the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) and ESA-PRODEX. |
| Copyright: | ASTRON |
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